The field of the present disclosure relates generally to nanotube technology and, more particularly, to systems and methods of forming a nanotube mesh structure.
Carbon nanotubes are small tube-shaped structures fabricated essentially from single-atom thick sheets of graphene in tubular form. Generally, carbon nanotubes can be classified as either single-wall or multi-wall carbon nanotubes. Single-wall carbon nanotubes have only one cylindrical graphitic layer, and multi-wall carbon nanotubes have two or more nested cylindrical graphitic layers. Carbon nanotubes generally have a diameter less than about 100 nanometers and large aspect ratios such that a length of the nanotube is significantly greater than its diameter. For example, the length to diameter ratio of carbon nanotubes may be greater than about 1000 to 1. Moreover, carbon nanotubes have been shown to exhibit high strength, unique electrical properties, and to be efficient conductors of heat. Such features make carbon nanotubes advantageous for use in a variety of mechanical, electrical, and/or thermal applications.
However, the use of carbon nanotubes in practical applications is generally limited by the small size of the carbon nanotubes. Recently, several known processes have been established to form carbon nanotube structures of increasingly large sizes that may be implemented in such practical applications. One known process includes dispersing carbon nanotubes in a bath of solution, substantially aligning the carbon nanotubes in the solution, and iteratively collecting the carbon nanotubes on a surface of a substrate passing through the bath of solution. The carbon nanotubes are generally iteratively collected in different orientations of the substrate. The carbon nanotubes accumulated on the surface of the substrate are then joined to form a carbon nanotube mesh structure, or “buckypaper.” However, the size of carbon nanotube mesh structures formed in such processes is generally limited by the dimensions of the substrate and/or the bath of solution.